In the early 1970s, my father headed the Metals and Ceramics Division at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

During this time, NASA presented his division with a request - come up with a material that could be used as protective cladding for plutonium oxide needed to fuel the Voyageur and Pioneer spacecrafts that were going to be built to explore the solar system.

And then, even though this was a research facility, manufacture all the material NASA needed - with no defects.